Is Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) used for weight loss?

Is Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) used for weight loss?

So, this patient is asking about using LDN as an appetite support or an appetite suppressant. One thing that a lot of doctors don't realize is Naltrexone is originally FDA approved for alcoholism and opioid addiction. However, back about probably 10 years ago, so there was a drug company that got it approved as a weight loss drug in a combination called Contrave. So,Contrave is a combination of Naltrexone and Buproprian. It's very expensive for some reason. I mean, you're taking two old generic drugs, putting them together and this drug company charges $500 a month for it. 

My point is, they dose it twice a day. I've had some success with patients who are looking for support with appetite control to dose it twice a day. 

I don't have too much experience three times a day. At some point, dosing it more frequently might, not so much the mTOR that I'm worried about. It's more the opioid rebound effect. If you're dosing it all day every day, then you're not going to get a rebound in opioids because you're not going to have the chance to reset the opioid receptors. 

So, I would say twice a day is as frequently as I would recommend dosing for LDN. And even then, I mean, I still see almost all the benefits. So, twice a day seems to be kind of that happy medium between the anti-inflammatory, the opioid rebound, and things like appetite support. 

So, that's kind of as far as I go. So, there are people who are kind of looking to dose Naltrexone to help with a little bit of weight loss. Twice a day would be as frequently as I dose. I wouldn't go three times a day.